The True Beneficiary

Ichinose gave no answer. She had a guess in her mind, but she couldn't be sure that was what Ryuuen was thinking, so she didn't intend to speak.

"Boring. What have you decided about our deal?" Ryuuen gestured to the server to bring Ichinose another hot coffee.

"Four and a half million. I want to know how you found out about our class's Beneficiary."

As expected of Ichinose, she's really rich. Fifty thousand for one piece of information from Ryuuen.

"Deal. But I need to borrow Kobashi Yume's phone from your class. It won't have any negative impact on your class. Kobashi Yume is in the Dragon Group, and I have my own plans."

In the end, Ryuuen was very satisfied. This deal even brought an extra fifty thousand. Even if he told Ichinose that the selection of Beneficiaries had a pattern, given their class's current situation, it would be difficult for them to deduce the Beneficiaries of other classes from it.

Ichinose looked a bit bitter. It was unclear if the coffee wasn't to her liking, or if Ryuuen's deal didn't satisfy her. The considerate Ryuuen decided to give her a bonus tip: "Ichinose, you're a member of the Student Council, aren't you?"

"Yes. Is there something you need from the Student Council, Ryuuen?"

"Nothing in particular. Just wanted to warn you about Nagumo Miyabi."

"Huh? Nagumo is a good person, why should I be wary of him?" Ichinose was surprised, unsure why Ryuuen would tell her to be careful of Nagumo Miyabi. After all, when she applied to join the Student Council, Horikita Manabu had rejected her. It was with Nagumo's help that she was able to join.

Without answering Ichinose, Ryuuen returned to the lounge. Hiyori and the others had already figured out the list of Beneficiaries.

Ryuuen didn't go to trade with Katsuragi. During the first discussion, Katsuragi had already made his stance clear: he wouldn't cooperate with Ryuuen anymore. Of course, the most important point was that Ryuuen knew this guy was a pauper now, with hardly any Points left to squeeze out of him.

He had already offended the Sakayanagi faction. If he were to extort the Katsuragi faction now, it would be bad if they accidentally reached a consensus and decided to deal with him first.

Ryuuen knew Ichinose and Ayanokoji were definitely plotting something in the Rabbit Group. Unfortunately, Ryuuen didn't give them any chance to act. Ibuki had played the "Traitor" in the Rabbit Group and found Karuizawa Kei, the Beneficiary. As the announcement of the Rabbit Group's exam ending came, Ryuuen walked into the Dragon Group's discussion room to begin the final discussion.

"Everyone's here early, aren't they?" Ryuuen greeted everyone in the discussion room. Only a few students from Class C nodded at him; the others remained silent.

"What's wrong, Suzune? Are you going to be silent like a turtle too? That's not like you." The "turtle" Ryuuen referred to was Katsuragi. Katsuragi also knew Ryuuen was teasing him, but he didn't plan to argue with Ryuuen.

"I still hold my initial view. Outcome One is our best choice. I hope that in this final discussion, everyone can reveal their phones. It won't harm anyone." Horikita Suzune looked at Ryuuen, then at Katsuragi.

The Beneficiary of the Dragon Group was a Class C student, so Katsuragi was also somewhat tempted by Horikita Suzune's suggestion. Although maintaining silence meant Class A wouldn't lose anything in the Dragon Group, they wouldn't gain anything either. If Outcome One could be achieved, Class A could also benefit and gain a lot of personal Points. It was mentioned earlier that Katsuragi was a pauper, and he was indeed lacking in Points.

So, when Horikita Suzune looked at Katsuragi, Katsuragi nodded. When Horikita Suzune looked at Ryuuen again, Ryuuen chuckled lightly: "It's not impossible for me to agree to your request, but our previous contract will have to be extended. I'm a bit reluctant to let you go now."

Of course, Ryuuen wasn't stupid enough to agree directly to Horikita Suzune; that would seem too deliberate, too abnormal. After all, Ryuuen had previously said Horikita Suzune was too naive.

Only with added conditions would Horikita Suzune and the others not suspect him.

Horikita Suzune was clearly displeased: "This is something that benefits everyone. Why should I bear the cost alone?"

"If you don't agree, then our Class C won't hand over our phones. I regret to inform you that the Beneficiary is one of our Class C members. You can guess which one it is; you might even guess correctly." Ryuuen stretched, unsure if Horikita Suzune would agree to his terms. After all, in Ryuuen's eyes, Horikita Suzune wasn't the type to selflessly dedicate herself.

"The Rabbit Group ended the exam early. Was that your doing, Ryuuen?" Horikita Suzune didn't directly agree to Ryuuen but first asked about the Rabbit Group.

"Think whatever you want." Ryuuen replied noncommittally.

Question: What does it feel like to be continuously stared at by a beautiful girl?

Ryuuen's Answer: Pleasant.

"Alright, I agree. The contract can be extended for half a semester." Horikita Suzune finally made a concession. If Outcome One was achieved, the three Class D students in the Dragon Group would each receive five hundred thousand Points. One hundred and fifty Points in exchange for Horikita Suzune being Ryuuen's personal chef for two more months wasn't a loss; in fact, it was a huge win.

Ryuuen shook his head and held up one finger: "One semester."

One semester was still a gain for Horikita Suzune. When Horikita Suzune proposed half a semester, she already anticipated Ryuuen would raise the price. After all, she had known Ryuuen for quite some time and was well aware of his habits. Ryuuen was very greedy and always sought the maximum profit when he had the upper hand.

"Fine," Horikita Suzune replied simply.

"Did I ask for too little?" Ryuuen hadn't expected Horikita Suzune to be so decisive.

Of course, Ryuuen didn't play dirty and keep raising the price. He just slammed his phone onto the table: "I am the Beneficiary."

At this moment, Kanzaki Ryuuji's eyelids twitched. He knew that Ryuuen's Beneficiary was Kobashi Yume from his own class, but he wasn't kind enough to warn Horikita Suzune at this point. Outcome Two was also acceptable for Class B. If Class A and Class D got greedy and answered prematurely, then achieving Outcome Four would be even better for Class B.

Horikita Suzune examined the phone Ryuuen had thrown on the table. There were indeed messages from the school on the phone, but Horikita Suzune always felt Ryuuen's smile was peculiar. Every time Ryuuen smiled like that, Horikita Suzune had a bad feeling.

Exiting the message interface, Horikita Suzune had no intention of prying into Ryuuen's other privacy on his phone, but she still couldn't avoid seeing the phone's pink cat wallpaper.

"Ryuuen, you like kittens too?"

Facing Horikita Suzune's teasing, Ryuuen snatched the phone back from her hand: "It's not good to peek at other people's privacy. I don't just like cats, I like maids too."

Horikita Suzune remembered having worn a maid outfit to cook for Ryuuen before, and at that time, she was indeed asked to wear cat ears and a cat tail. However, Horikita Suzune didn't think Ryuuen would choose a pink wallpaper because of that.

She took out her own phone, found Ryuuen's name in her contacts, and called him.

"Habataitara modoranai to itte."

A familiar phone ringtone sounded, but the phone ringing wasn't the one in Ryuuen's hand; it came from Suzuki Eijun's pocket in Class C.

"Mezashita no wa aoi aoi ano sora."

The phone continued to ring. Ryuuen shamelessly remained silent.

Suzuki Eijun took out his phone, unsure whether to answer or not.

Horikita Suzune directly hung up her phone and stared intently at Ryuuen. Ryuuen could only spread his hands helplessly and exchanged phones with Suzuki Eijun, taking his own back.

Now everyone knew that Suzuki Eijun was the Beneficiary. Ryuuen had exchanged phones with him before the exam and claimed to be the Beneficiary, intending to confuse everyone and deceive them.

Ryuuen felt no shame even when his scheme was exposed. Just when everyone believed this was the truth, which meant they had stopped thinking, would Ryuuen not use a pink wallpaper, but Suzuki Eijun would?

Both doubting everything and believing everything are too simple; they are equivalent to giving up on thinking.